After the Fight
by Allthequirkythings
Summary: Following Yoh, Lyserg, and Tamao after the fated fight with Hao. Yoh troubles with making a New Years card for Anna and decides writing her a song is better. How do you write a song? Lyserg battles for justice...in a private high school. And who's that girl who makes him blush? Tamao is on a journey to find herself...but somehow wakes up in the house of...Horohoro? Lots of fluff.


**My first _Shaman King_ fanfic!**

**Very excited. I reread the series in about two days this Thanksgiving, and I fell in love again...**

**Especially with Lyserg Diethel, who I think is one of the more underrated characters. **

**This'll juggle between Yoh/Anna, Lyserg/OC, and Tamao/Horohoro. Each change is shown by a line and a few lines of Ingrid Michaelson's songs!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own _Shaman King _nor any of the amazing art and characters.**

**Please review!**

* * *

_If you were falling, then I would catch you.__  
__You need a light, I'd find a match_

_'Cause I love the way you say good morning__  
__And you take me the way I am._

Anna.

What could he say about Anna...

Hmm.

Yoh was troubled.

Anna wasn't usually one for cards, and Yoh wasn't usually one to write cards. But his grandmother had insisted, considering Anna had spent many New Years alone and would enjoy, even if just briefly, the sentimentality.

And his mother had told him slyly that Asakura men had to treat their family very well, especially their wi-

-wi-

_ -wi-_

Huh.

Erm...that female person people marry. To treat them very well.

Whenever he thought about _that_, Yoh would get this tragedy look on his face. He'd known this was coming since he was ten for the Great Spirit's case, but that look...

It puzzled Amidimaru greatly.

Not that _he _had much advice to offer when it came to relationships, but the spirit could dream. And from what he'd seen, it would seem that Anna and Yoh quite liked one another. They were so opposite that they attracted.

So why was Yoh being so hung up over a simple New Year's card?

It wasn't as if Anna was going to reciprocate or make _him _a card too... It was always Yoh making the prompting moves and leading her, even though it sometimes seemed the other way around most of the time.

"Amidimaru?"

He started out of his own thoughts. "Yes, Yoh-dono?"

"Do you think I can say she's very motivating? Or will she think I'm being sarcastic?" Yoh rolled over on the floor and sighed. "This is hard."

"You're working very hard," Amidimaru noted.

"Eh. Hey!" he sat upright. "Anna really likes Awaya Ringo, right? Maybe I can write her a song!"

"You're working _very _hard," Amidimaru sweat-dropped.

Yoh shrugged and gave one of those carefree grins.

"Anna's worth it."

* * *

_And we are so fragile__  
__And our cracking bones make noise_

_And we are just breakable, breakable__  
__Breakable girls and boys._

The uniform he wore was itchy and did nothing to protect him from the cold wind.

It had been a while since Lyserg was back in London; nothing had really changed, though it felt like this whole picture of a normal high school was terribly wrong somehow.

The sky was still a drizzly gray, the hum of street life constant, the air smelling crisp like rust but not as unpleasant.

If London hadn't changed, then he had...

"Not a great place to stay still, mate," a girl tugged softly on his sleeve. She smiled at him and pointed behind where they stood at the gate. "The Cyclers come through here each mornin'. Trampled on your first day? Been there. Not nice. Come on."

She pulled him to the side of the gates. Sure enough, a large group of a dozen or so kids rode through, shoving down a few unlucky stragglers still loitering in the entryway. He frowned. Lyserg noticed one glance to where they stood, but the girl made an obvious effort to look away.

The group roped their bikes at the long stretch of racks. When one pushed aside another boy just to take him spot, Lyserg marched over.

Clara was thinking about how Matthew hadn't combed his hair very well _or _wore a helmet this morning, when she realized the new guy was already halfway there.

"Wait!" she called. "Collin does that to Riley everyday! He doesn't mind!"

Lyserg minded.

Maybe after seeing the whole world almost rid of humans made him uneasy. But seeing these ungrateful teens fighting and bullying after all he and the others did simply made Lyserg aggravated. So much sacrifice and bloodshed all over a stupid bike rack? He couldn't believe it, but he would fight for justice, even for something so small.

"Hey! Have some respect for others, would you?"

The other boy raised his eyebrows. His tie was slung loosely over his shoulders. Curly black hair trickled out from under his earphones.

"What was that? I didn't hear you," Collin responded snidely. "You hear him, Matt?"

The boy who had glanced at them earlier started.

"Uh...no, Collin. No, I didn't hear him."

"I guess you're new," Collin snorted, casting an eye over Lyserg's neatly tucked uniform. "What? Your mommy dress you up real good for today?"

_Mother..._

Before he could react, Lyserg's fist swung hard and connected-

-with Collin's palm.

His pale eyes were wide in mock surprise, and his entourage bristled in anticipation. "Oh, struck a nerve, did I? Your _mommy_? You gonna defend her?"

Lyserg struck out a foot aimed for his groin, but Collin twisted his arm, flipping him over and banging his head on the bike rack. Lyserg couldn't help but cry out. So much for one of the five legendary warriors.

"Let's go, guys," Collin sniffed, shaking out his fingers. "And don't try anything funny!"

His friends cat-called, slapping Collin on the back as they ran to class. Lyserg grit his teeth. He hadn't fought for so long just to be confined to this stupid school.

He was ashamed...taken down so easily. But he was more ashamed of himself.

He remembered his mother's last words...

_"We can't stay," she whispered into his hair before pressing a kiss on his head. "It'd be against so many things if we were allowed to live."_

_ "The Patch are allowed to be revived! It's not fair!" Lyserg cried, not caring that Yoh and the others were watching. "Why can't you come back?"_

_ His father put a strong hand on his back. "I think you're smart enough to figure it out. We're not fit to be there anymore, son. It's been too long. This is the way the Great Spirit wills it to be. Go with your intuition to do what's right."_

_ "Do what you will, but go back to school, okay, Lyserg?" his mother cupped his face. Her eyes were watery...but then again, everything was watery right now. _

"_Be a smart boy. We'll always be with you." _

Smart move, Diethel. Picking fights...was that the justice they wanted him to fight for?

Lyserg punched the concrete as the class bell rang. He clenched his teeth. He though life after the Shaman Fight would be better.

"Hey, are you okay, new kid?"

He glanced up at the familiar voice.

A pair of dark blue eyes. Mahogany hair that curled at her shoulders.

"Hello?" the girl said.

* * *

_How can I catch up when I don't want to?  
How can I catch up when I still want you?_

_You have had your fill, your fill of me. _

_You have had your fill, your fill of me._

Maybe things would be better like this, Tamao thought sadly, trudging along nothing but a mountain rucksack.

Not even Conchi and Ponchi were coming along where she was going...

Where was that again?

Her shoulders sagged, and she almost tripped on the slippery moss.

_Oh right. Away._

She felt bad...but most of all, afraid. For years Tamao had felt so unimportant in the Asakura house. That was the reason she had been so shy.

Because she was weak.

_Weak_.

Each footstep through the halls echoed it...weak, weak, _so weak, Tamao. _

Ponchi and Conchi whispered weak. Anna-sama didn't bother masking her distaste. Yoh had always been strong- he didn't understand. No one had time for her; no one gave her, Tamao, who made the most wonderful food, another glance. And she'd grown afraid and shy. What if she gave the wrong opinion? Or the wrong word? They would hate her, for sure, neglect her more than they already did.

They called her shy. But Tamao was terrified.

Mikihasa was the only one kind to her. He'd been the only one who listened to her talk about nothing. He had not only been her mentor and guide, but father and friend...

Tears fell hard down her face.

And died.

Dead, dead, dead.

She remembered only a snatch of the funeral.

_"Why are you crying, Tamao?"_

_She sobbed into a cloth Yoh had handed her earlier. _

_She had tried to be strong. She really tried. _

_ "Mikihasa-sama is gone," Tamao cried. "Anna-sama, how can you all not be upset?"_

_ "Look around you," Anna sighed, gesturing around the room. Guests were eating, laughing. Sharing funny stories about Miki and making fun of his mask. "You're the only one crying, Tamao. We're celebrating his life today."_

_ She had tried to be strong, oh, how she _tried_!_

_ Everyone else could do it while Tamao Tomamura sat crying in a corner. Everyone else could sit, chatting the breeze, while Tamao Tomamura sobbed about how her only friend was gone. _

_She was being selfish and absurd. _

_But for the life of her, she couldn't _stop_._

_ "A-Anna-sama-"_

_ SLAP!_

_ Tamao clutched her stinging cheek in shock. _

_ "Look and pull yourself together," Anna sighed, looking, for once, like she was sorry. "What would Miki have wanted?"_

_ Tamao sniffed. Crying would not solve anything. She understood that. But it felt like laughing wasn't very appropriate right now either._

_ And these things piled up so easily. The fact that Mikihasa-sama was gone. The fact that she would probably never leave the Asakura house anymore, because he was the one who took her on mountain excursions. The fact that some would console her now, but not pay her any attention the next morning. It made her deeply angry somewhere inside. _

_The fact that she was weak. _

That night, she'd broken thirty-eight plates she was supposed to be washing. Guests streamed into the kitchen to find a girl using a golden arrow to fire down dinner china by the dozen.

She had been almost done with the dishes when Yoh managed to stop her.

One hand on the wrist. That's all it took.

Anna would have kept going. Anna would have kept shooting until her job was finished, until she was satisfied, until the world just went away.

They would never have sent Anna away for doing something like that.

It was unfair that Tamao was.

It was unfair that she wasn't Anna.

It was unfair that she wasn't strong.

* * *

**Review?**

**( )_( )**

**(='.'=)**

**(")_(")**


End file.
